Teaching German

René Magritte

Painter René Magritte, considered the most important representative of Belgian Surrealism, was a philosopher with a paintbrush.

The works of Belgian painter René Magritte (1898-1967) are iconic, with his painting of a pipe and its accompanying disclaimer "This is not a pipe" likely his most famous. It's also a trademark of his approach: creating images that borrowed simple, everyday objects while questioning the way viewers see the world. Mistrusting simple realism, Magritte was not a man of simple answers. Indeed, the aim of the Surrealists was to shake up the way people were used to seeing, experiencing and thinking about things. Magritte, for his part, did it all with a good deal of irony.